Archias of Cyprus

Archias (Ancient Greek: Ἀρχίας) was the governor (strategos) of Cyprus under Ptolemy VI Philometor in the 2nd century BCE.^[1]

Little is known of Archias's life. He traveled with Ptolemy to Rome in 164, and took his post in Cyprus in 163.^[2] The Seleucids had always had their eye on the island, and in 155 Demetrius I Soter gave Archias a bribe of 500 talents in order to betray the island. Archias was caught, and put on trial for this. Before the trial could be resolved in a guilty or innocent verdict, Archias hanged himself.^[3]^[4] While 155 is traditionally considered his date of death, various scholars have put the date of his suicide anywhere between 158 and 154.^[2]

This event was said to have inspired the adage of the Dutch Renaissance humanist Erasmus, "Inanium inania consilia" ("futile advice from futile people"), said when a person of low intelligence is foiled in their plans.^[5]

Notes

^ Polybius, The Histories 33.3
^ ^a ^b Bagnall, Roger S. (1976). The Administration of the Ptolomaic Possessions Outside Egypt. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. Vol. 4. Brill Publishers. p. 257. ISBN 9789004044906. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
^ Habicht, C. (1953). "The Seleucids and their rivals". In Astin, A. E.; Walbank, F. W.; Frederiksen, M. W.; Ogilvie, R. M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C. Vol. VIII (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 361. ISBN 9780521234481. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
^ Gruen, Erich S. (1986). The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome. Vol. 1. University of California Press. p. 702. ISBN 9780520057371. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
^ Erasmus (2005). Grant, John N. (ed.). Collected Works of Erasmus - Adages III IV 1 to IV II 100. Collected Works of Erasmus Series. Vol. 35. University of Toronto Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780802036438. Retrieved 2017-10-07.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Archias". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 266.

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[1] Polybius, The Histories 33.3

[admin-2] Bagnall, Roger S. (1976). The Administration of the Ptolomaic Possessions Outside Egypt. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. Vol. 4. Brill Publishers. p. 257. ISBN 9789004044906. Retrieved 2017-10-06.

[3] Habicht, C. (1953). "The Seleucids and their rivals". In Astin, A. E.; Walbank, F. W.; Frederiksen, M. W.; Ogilvie, R. M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C. Vol. VIII (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 361. ISBN 9780521234481. Retrieved 2017-10-07.

[4] Gruen, Erich S. (1986). The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome. Vol. 1. University of California Press. p. 702. ISBN 9780520057371. Retrieved 2017-10-07.

[5] Erasmus (2005). Grant, John N. (ed.). Collected Works of Erasmus - Adages III IV 1 to IV II 100. Collected Works of Erasmus Series. Vol. 35. University of Toronto Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780802036438. Retrieved 2017-10-07.

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